


Death Rally

by GammaPrime



Series: TRANSFORMERS CHRONICLES [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Sabotage, public rally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28143891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GammaPrime/pseuds/GammaPrime
Summary: Cogitus Ambus, leader of the Synths' Rights Movement, holds a public rally at a stadium in Altihex, but will it go as planned?
Series: TRANSFORMERS CHRONICLES [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060217
Kudos: 2
Collections: TRANSFORMERS CHRONICLES





	Death Rally

Altihex was, next to Iacon, the main cultural center of Cybertron, sporting everything from comedy clubs to the most impressive sporting arena on the planet. Usually, this arena, the Stadium Arcadium, played host to Cube, the most popular sport on Cybertron. It was also the site for many public political rallies. Such was the case on one fateful night.

Several bots had gathered at the Stadium Arcadium to meet and hear from one Cogitus Ambus, leader of a civil rights movement for drones that had evolved to the point of sentience. Outwardly, the synthetic constructs, or Synths, that were farthest along in the evolutionary process, could not be easily distinguished from normal Cybertronians. Others, meanwhile, looked more like the drones they once were. This was usually due to either being early in the development of sentience, a process known as Emergence, or because they lacked the resources to upgrade to more lifelike bodies.

A primarily red Synth mech seated himself next to a white and blue Synth femme with medical decals.

"Are you still being denied access to the medical research databases?" the mech asked.

"Unfortunately, I am, Zoom-Zoom," she replied with a sigh. "Still, I think I may be close to a solution."

"You work while many med-bots recharge. With proper resources, you could perhaps cure Red Rust."

"I hope you're right. I'm not doing this alone though. My only true friend...Ratchet...has been a great help. He works harder than any of the others. In fact, he works to the point of exhaustion. It concerns me."

"Time is running out it seems. I have been told that I cannot return to Velocitron."

"Do you miss your home?"

"I do. Perhaps I would finally be allowed to participate in a real race. I think Override was ready to grant me that opportunity."

"Race Training Drones never get to compete in real races here, do they?"

"A Medical Diagnostic Drone would have a better chance at being allowed to do medical research, Lifeline." Zoom-Zoom replied, earning a small giggle from the femme.

Just then, a blue and gray buggy rolled onto the arena before transforming into a mech who waved at the audience before stepping up to the podium.

"I didn't expect to see such a crowd tonight," he commented. "I honestly can't tell some of the Synths from Sparked bots here. Some of you talk among yourselves as if you had Sparks. As such, I wouldn't think to ask whether you were Sparked or Synth. It wouldn't matter to me. It shouldn't matter to society either! Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!"

The crowd cheered.

"If all of us, Synth and Sparked alike, continue to press forward, I believe we can win freedom for all!"

While Cogitus continued to speak, a steel-blue and olive mech toiled away with one of the maintenance drones that kept the stadium operating at optimum levels. Behind him, a blue and white mech began to tap his foot impatiently. "How much longer is this gonna take, Onslaught? By the time you're done, they're all gonna leave! This'd go a whole lot easier if you just let me shoot up the place."

"That will expose us, Triggerhappy, as will your obnoxiously loud vocalizer." Onslaught turned to face his cohort with a threatening glare. "I'm sure I could find the time to take care of that if you know what I mean." He pointed to his own throat before making a jerking and crushing motion with his hand.

"You can't do that! We're..."

The loudmouthed mech found himself cut off by Onslaught grabbing his neck. "Not another word, Triggerhappy," he growled. "This is a covert operation. Try to get that through your thick processor." Onslaught then released his companion before returning to work on the drone.

"What's that drone gonna do anyway?"

Onslaught groaned in annoyance. "Its instructions are to cause an overload in the Energon conduits here. I'm sure you'll appreciate the resulting light show."

Triggerhappy grinned, knowing what his partner in crime meant by 'light show.' If there was anything he liked more than the sound of his own guns, it was a good explosion.

Onslaught made a couple final adjustments to the drone's circuitry before closing its access hatch and reactivating it. "Now we must clear out of here," he instructed before transforming into his alternate form. Triggerhappy soon followed suit, transforming into his jet mode and following the saboteur out of the arena.

"Til All Are One...That phrase has been ingrained in Cybertronian culture for eons, and it carries many meanings. There are many ways we can, and should, be one. We are one in purpose, and we are one in our dream, but we are not one in opportunity. That is still determined by the presence of a Spark, but life manifests in many forms." Cogitus continued to speak, unaware of what was about to happen.

"Its Spark is not always tangible. A wise bot once said that after the execution of the first Synth I knew."

Zoom-Zoom looked up, noticing that the stadium's lights were getting brighter and brighter. "Lifeline, I don't like the look of that."

The light directly behind Cogitus exploded violently, knocking the mech down and embedding a large piece of shrapnel in his back.

"Cogitus!" Lifeline called out. Before she could run over and tend to the injured activist, though, another light exploded, sending a piece of shrapnel into her knee and causing her to collapse onto the ground. Zoom-Zoom responded by quickly scooping the femme up and running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Wait...I have to..."

"There's no time," Zoom-Zoom argued before another explosion went off behind them. "We all have to find the nearest exit before we're all atomized!" The scarlet Synth performed a quick scan of his surroundings and calculated the fastest route to the exit, then made his way through the panicked crowd just as another explosion sent shrapnel into his shoulder. Zoom-Zoom ignored the damage and continued to put distance between himself and the exploding arena. Unfortunately, the shrapnel had ruptured an Energon line, causing him to leak precious fuel that soon began to ignite. Eventually, he was forced to let Lifeline go, being too weak to carry her further. "Roll...out..."

"Zoom-Zoom..." she cried as she transformed and drove away, just as a final, massive explosion reduced the once magnificent stadium to rubble. "I wish I could've saved you. I'm sorry I failed you both. I don't want to fail anyone else though. I have to find the cure...no matter the personal cost."


End file.
